Surviving A Mobile Baby 101

It’s been a few months after you had your baby and you’re pretty sure you’re getting a hang of this whole parenting thing.  Your babe is sleeping better, eating on a good schedule, and taking long glorious naps. You feel like you might be able to take shower or *gasp* cook dinner.

Until, SURPRISE, suddenly your kid is knee deep in the [amazon_textlink asin=’B0742M47V5′ text=’Tupperware‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’1fc02063-678b-11e8-be20-e7165401bfc7′] making all types of racket and an even bigger mess.

[ReviewDisclaimer]

What just happened?  Your baby is now MOBILE and that totally changes the game as a parent.  I remember thinking surely not ALL kids are as curious as my baby was or someone would’ve warned me about it, right? WRONG. I’m here to tell you, babies are the MOST curious little creatures and it’s just getting started when they’re mobile.

No matter now clean or neat you think you are, your baby will expose your flaws.  And of course, anything they find will go straight in their mouth. These little people have no boundaries and want to explore and feel everything about their world, even if they’re barely off the ground yet.  Babies give zero… cares.

How can you keep your baby safe and your sanity in tact as your little one starts exploring your entire household?  I’ve got a few ideas for you and I thought since I have just about every safety hazard in the book at my house, I could surely help the majority of people dealing with this old “phenomenon”.

1.) Doors:

For a long time, I was sure Cam wouldn’t figure out how to open the door.  When I caught her paws deep in the pantry with chocolate dripping out of her mouth, I knew I needed to make a change.  We had the flat door handles in our “old” house so I chose the locks that require us to press a button to open the door.  This kept her out and took a quick, swift move from us to get in. We chose to put these locks on the pantry door and the half bathroom doors.

Disclaimer and a really short version of a LONG story: Don’t use these on doors you can get locked IN to.  One time, I went to the bathroom and accidentally managed to lock myself and my child IN the bathroom. I quickly learned the only way out was ninja kicking the door in.  So, I did just that (as Cam sat in the sink and laughed the whole time).

2.) Steps:

It’s pretty obvious you don’t want your little one creeping up (or down) the steps without you.  We used super [amazon_textlink asin=’B000G6BZJI’ text=’cheap‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’9a395101-678c-11e8-a4fc-5bf81291c92a’] baby gates because they get the job done and I knew we weren’t going to keep them up forever. They also serve as a blockade for the dogs because they cannot be trusted upstairs by themselves.

But if you’re fellow Poms2Moms author, Kaitlin, and have a father-in-law with ALL the skills, he builds you a custom baby [amazon_textlink asin=’B07DBGT6TF’ text=’barn door‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’bcc85c9e-678c-11e8-a199-81909dcfef51′] gate to complete your epic-ly decorated home (insert eye roll of jealousy).

3.) Pool:  

When we built our new home, we knew wanted to put a pool in the backyard.  Living in Florida, there’s water EVERYWHERE and now we’ve got it 9 feet from our backdoor.  We installed some (ugly ass) [amazon_textlink asin=’B0046786U4′ text=’alarms‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’f52cdb2f-678c-11e8-9f17-ef45f023e4c0′] for the doors so we know when the door is opened. We also have a [amazon_textlink asin=’B01407EB58′ text=’security‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’4049d4df-678d-11e8-bd36-07deb77d090f’] system that has a chime when the door is opened.  And honestly, if she ever tries to open the doors to the outside, we make a BIG deal out of it and tell her she’s not allowed to touch those doors so she learns she cannot go outside without us.

Lastly, my anxiety wouldn’t allow me to have a [amazon_textlink asin=’B072N2J366′ text=’pool‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’96d63e18-678e-11e8-b7bc-fb162e4a3794′] in the backyard without teaching her some skills on how to save herself if she were to ever fall in.  Even the best parents can get their eyes off of their child for 2 seconds and they can take a tumble in the pool. We enrolled Cam into ISR classes when she was barely one.  It’s NOT cheap but there’s no price tag on my baby girl.  I highly recommend these classes because they teach your child how to [amazon_textlink asin=’B003TG91J8′ text=’roll‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’cedd811e-678e-11e8-8aee-85d8ba5fe700′] over and find air until someone can save them.  Which reminds me, it’s time to get her enrolled in a refresher course…

4.) Cabinets: 

We used the same [amazon_textlink asin=’B079L5RQ1F’ text=’fasteners‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’54cebfde-678f-11e8-b995-53af7e520d5c’] for all of the cabinets except one.  She loved playing in the Tupperware, so we let her have one cabinet for her to play in as we cooked dinner or did dishes.  We also loved these little suction [amazon_textlink asin=’B017IQZ616′ text=’gears‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’6506f8e5-678f-11e8-af31-ebdc419c195f’] she could play with on the dishwasher while we were in the kitchen to give her something else to do.

5.) Light Sockets:

Light socket [amazon_textlink asin=’B07C33MZ8X’ text=’covers‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’7d413684-678f-11e8-a371-c73d77c660b2′] are one thing my not-so-prepared-self thought I would for sure need.  We put them in our light sockets as soon as Cam started crawling around and getting curious. Honestly, I can’t say I’ve ever seen her messing with them.  It was more annoying for us because if we needed to plug something in, I had to get a butter knife to pry the stupid thing out.

THESE on the other hand are GENIUS:

Baby proofing is a necessary evil but I totally believe some baby proofing is a way to trigger a mom’s anxiety to make her think she HAS TO HAVE all of this [amazon_textlink asin=’B073125Q8S’ text=’crap‘ template=’ProductLink’ store=’poms2moms-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’0ac20892-6790-11e8-b007-9d8492440fb9′] to keep your kid safe.  Baby proofing depends on your baby, so wait to see what they are interested in before pouring money into something you may never need.

What are some of your best baby proofing tips?